Just recently the blog opened up for comments. And what regional coverage has elicited the most heated comment debate so far? The Balkans… One mention of FYROM’s name issue and off they went. Day one of the debate and “Damn Turks!” has already been dropped. (It’s always their fault isn’t it.)

Now, I know many of you on here enjoy contributing your two cents, so if you want to get in on this, check it out:

The situation in Kosovo is "a car wreck about to happen,” it has caused a steady decline in U.N. legitimacy, and, in the end, it’s all Europe’s fault -- at least according to John Bolton.

Bolton, the U.S. representative to the U.N. in 2005 and 2006, spoke on Friday in Washington at an event entitled, “The Implications of Kosovo’s Independence for U.S. Foreign Policy.” And what are those implications, according to him? Little more than a chance for the U.S. to get back at Europe for its criticism of America’s post-9/11 international blunders.

True, I do carry a North Carolina driver’s license, and I will still vote in the Tar Heel state come next November, but in the wee hours of one Sunday morning a few weeks back, I was initiated into the reality of life in Washington, DC – I was mugged.

Reporters without borders released its annual Worldwide Press Freedom Index, with only Ukraine and Belarus ranking lower than Serbia among European states. I was surprised to see just how far down the US ranked. Last year it actually came in below Serbia.

This year's report also concludes that bloggers are now threatened as much as journalists in traditional media -- a good sign for the power, though not comforting for the blogger.

Two months ago I packed my bags and left Belgrade to take a job in Washington, DC Đ not in anyway an answer to the BIA vs. CIA question, I should point out.

At the moment I am working for The Atlantic, a slightly left of center, general interest publication with a long and respected history.

Recently, in an introductory conversation with a blogger for the magazine’s newly expanded website, I mentioned my year in Serbia and my interest in South Eastern Europe. His response: “Oh, the Balkans Đ that’s so esoteric. Aren’t you about ten years too late on that?”

“As I was passing by, I saw that there were dead bodies, corpses, lying on the grass in front of the school bathroom… There may have been a dozen corpses,” said a small, female voice with a British accent over the loud speaker. The voice gave sound to the man’s face that appeared on the television screen overhead.

In the context of Europe, the Balkan Peninsula has traditionally been reputed as a land of beautifully mysterious landscapes, poor transportation and dangerously passionate people, all of which contribute to the centuries-old perception of the region as the backward, uncivilized corner of Europe. But even the Balkans has its